Palma Revisited

Ok, we are going to try to get into Palma today. We got up a little earlier and headed into the big city to see if we could find a parking spot. We arrived about 45 minutes earlier than the day before and made it into the main underground parking garage for people visiting the Palma Cathedral.

The outside is amazing but its unbelievably beautiful on the inside. As mentioned earlier, Catholics have been worshipping in the building for over 7 centuries. The church was built over an Islamic Mosque after a promise in prayer made by King Jaume 1 as his Armada sat off the coast before going into battle with the Moors, who had ruled the Island for more than 400 years. His conquest was successful and on December 31, 1229 he started plans for the creation of one of the most unique Gothic Cathedrals ever built in Europe. It has gone through several updates, changes and restorations over the past 500 years and is still used as a place of faith on a daily basis. The main part of the Cathedral (the central Nave) is massive and 14 very fine and beautifully aligned pillars rise 21 meters before branching out into arches that support the single span, vaulted roof. The total height of the Central Nave is 44 meters and is one of the tallest Gothic structures in Europe. The building is lit with the help of several stained-glass windows and seven rose windows, the largest one having over 1,200 individual pieces of glass. Ok, you have probably figured out by now that the above description is not from my hand and you are right. I borrowed the information from my Majorca Guide Book!!!!

After visiting the interior of the Cathedral, Rita and I went touring around the Old Town and stopped for lunch in a wonderful square with several outside cafes. Big trees and even bigger umbrellas helped keep us in the shade. We had some typical Spanish Tapas and most of them were delicious. One item I would recommend you stay away from is “Little Sausages cooked in Red Wine” I think they were cooked in red grease. It took a long time to walk off the effects of these little bastards.

Rita become part of a Jean Miro Sculpture

Tomorrow is our last full day in Majorca and we are planning to spend some time on our terrace enjoying the sun. Then it’s into town to visit our favorite café for some coffee and delicious pastry’s as well as catching up on some news through a British paper. After that, it’s back home to start the packing process for our trip to London and head out for our final dinner on this beautiful Island. It’s been a real treat spending two weeks here, especially for me as I had been here once before but only visited a beach resort that had reminded me of Honolulu. Thank you Rita for convincing me to try Majorca one more time. We will be back.